Once that's over, look out.

To all of you aspiring authors out there, and the published ones to whom this will sound familiar, once your novel is finished, and published, you can't wait to start another. All you keep thinking is: now I can spend my time writing. I've made it. Well, as the song goes, "It ain't necessarily so." When the novel's sold, then comes the hard part. You receive a notice from the publisher telling you this is your last opportunity to fix what's wrong in your manuscript--so read it again. Probably after you've edited it about 20 times to begin with. So you edit it again, send it back, then comes the galleys. The printed version of your novel, and that has to be corrected as well--by you. In between the final corrections and the galleys you might get a ten page questionnaire asking if you'd like a dedication, acknowledgements, introduction, foreword, etc. in your novel. If so, write them now and submit. The publisher also needs a 50 word bio to go along with your picture and a 150 word synopsis for the back of the book, along with a photo of you--preferably proffesionally taken. The 50 word bio is not bad, but what about the synopsis. Is it possible to outline all of the wonderful  features of your novel in 150 words? Yeah, right! How do you list your characters, the plot and so on when all they want is the plot and without the characters it sounds so dry. ARGHHHHHH. 

When the finished product is out, then you have to market yourself through mass mailings plus making up bookmarks with your picture and a photo of the novel and purchasing info to leave in bookstores, libraries. Then you spend days and days and days calling bookstores for signings. But you're not finished yet. You have to attend all of those signings you set up. You need to get dressed to the nines to look impressive, run over to a bookstore and spend hours signing. Three or four times in one week and you're absolutely exhausted. Especially if you travel from state to state as I do.

Lastly, the biggest fear is: will my novel sell enough that my publisher will want my next one?

I'm not trying to discourage anyone by writing this. If someone had told me what to expect when I started out, I would've been grateful. During those periods of time when my brain was blocked and I laid the novel aside, I could've spent time planning my strategy in the event the novel was sold. So in between your writing, take some time to figure out your marketing strategy so it doesn't hit you all at one like the proverbial "ton of bricks."